Vanished
by Sarah-Blureberry
Summary: This book contains spoilers from Scandal. So if you haven't read that book, you might not want to read this one.
1. Chapter 1

_Previously..._

_**'THE GAME IS ON REED BRENNAN. THE PRIZE? NOELLE'S LIFE.'**_

**Disclaimer: I don't own Private, Kate Brian does**

Joshua Hollis reached across the couch and pulled me into his leather winter jacket. The moment he did, my mind instantly went back to the night when I thought that I lost him. How could I be so stupid to think that Sabine was actually a good person? I can't believe that I missed out on so many moments like this, all because of a physco who was trying to 'finish what her sister started'.

"I miss this" I whispered into his the jacket that was separating me from the warmth of his body.

His soft blue eyes met mine with a smile. He shredded the jacket and pulled me even closer, this time allowing me to hear his heartbeat.

"I miss this, too" he whispered, kissing me on the forehead, and wrapping his arms around me.

Tonight was really the one night that I got to spend alone with Josh, and I planned on enjoying it. The other times had been filled with rampaging through all of Noelle Lange's things, hoping that the kidnappers might have left some clue as to why she was missing. But after the third day on the job, we had no more information than we did to begin with.

"So, how's your little investigation coming?" he asked sarcastically. Josh had to have been among the many Easton students who wasn't really shaken up about the fact that Noelle was missing, actually, he didn't seem to care.

"Can you show a little more concern?" I asked, defending her. Not that Josh owed her anything, she was the one who thought that he killed Thomas Pearson, my ex, and told the Headmaster where we were that night. But then again, she was now one of the two friends I had. Considering the fact that Constance Talbot, the girl who used to be my best friend, is now pissed at me because I didn't invite her to the secret society.

"No, Reed. I can't" he responded, "and I don't see why your defending her. She wasn't the most caring towards you last semester"

"She wasn't the only one" I whispered under my breath, but judging by the look on Josh's face, I knew he heard me.

"I'm sorry" he said, gliding his hands along his legs until they met mine, "really, I am"

"Lets not talk about it anymore" I said, shaking away all the pain that came along with the memories of last semester.

"what time is it?" I asked, looking around the art cemetery to see to look at the clock that was hanging on the wall.

"10minutes before curfew" he said, before I even had time to glance at the wall.

"Oh"

I smiled up at Josh, wondering if he knew how I wanted to spend our last few minutes of the night, and he smiled at me in return. He did

* * *

"So, who do you think it could be?" Ivy Slade, the other friend of mine, asked when we walked into the library the next morning. One of the many good things about Easton on the weekend was that early in the morning, people were catching up on their sleep; which meant that almost the entire Easton would be in silence, especially the library.

"I have no idea" I said, tugging of my black Marc Jacobs coat and sliding into the comfortable computer chair. I signed onto the computer to check any emails that I might have received from the kidnappers. Nothing.

Just then, the library doors opened up, and in walked a tired Sawyer Hathaway. My heart churned when I saw him, feeling bad for leading him on.

He lifted up his head and his eyes landed right on mine, I was going to give him a wave, but he turned before I had a chance to make a motion. Sawyer's brother, Graham Hathaway, walked in right behind him and headed for our table.

"Ladies" he said, when he reached close enough for us to hear.

"Hey" I said, surprised that we was still talking to me after all the pain I caused his brother.

"Hi" Ivy said, and reached up and touched Graham's biceps in a flirty way, "how's Sawyer"

"He's fine" was his reply not bothering to go on any further.

"Can you tell him that I'm sorry?" I asked.

"You can tell him" he said.

"But-"

"He was really pissed at first" he explained, "but after talking with the people around here, he realized that you and …."

Graham didn't finish the name. Mainly because he hated Josh with all his heart for breaking up with his twin sister.

I looked over at Sawyer, who was now sitting at the far end of the library, with his head stuck in a book.

I got up and headed towards him. Maybe Graham was right, maybe Sawyer didn't hate me anymore.

Midway towards my destination, Headmaster Hathaway walked into the library and motioned me to follow him.

I made a turn towards Sawyer one more time. Our eyes met, but he instantly dropped his gaze and got back to reading. I headed out the door and followed the Headmaster all the way to his office.

When we got there he made me sit down in the chair in front of his oak desk. His room was much different than any other of the headmasters who came before him. His was painted a certain type of brown that had a reassuring feel to it, the others were just painted beige that had a bland feeling to it.

"Ms. Brennan" he said, closing the door behind him and walking over to his seat, "how was your week?"

"Can we please just get to the reason I'm here?" I asked, not bothering to spend the next few minutes talking about my days with Josh.

"Okay" he said, fixing the tie on his collar, "Ms. Brennan, as you know, Ms. Lange has gone missing. Now, according to her parents there are quite a few people who could have taken her, but... I would like your opinion. I have gone through each and every person's permanent record in this school, and I could only find a few selected who would want to hurt Ms. Lange"

"Yeah, right" I scoffed, there had to have been more than a few people who wanted Noelle gone.

He ignored my comment and looked me square in the face.

"I know for a fact that you and Noelle have been close for quite some time, and I know that you can help me"

"What do you want me to do?"

"Unfortunately, I don't know the personal relationship Ms. Lange had with the students here, but I need you to tell me something"

"Please" he said, "explain to me the relationship Ms. Lange had with a Mr. Joshua Hollis"


	2. First Task

**Disclaimer: I don't own the 'Private' series, Kate Brian does.**

Headmaster Hathaway had me locked up inside his office for what felt like hours, but he didn't get the information that he needed/wanted from me.

"Ms. Brennan," he said tiredly, "We are just trying to figure out what could have happened to Ms. Lange. As you know, her parents are very concerned about her disappearance and we just need to make sure she is okay. Easton does not need a repeat of what happened last year when we thought that one of our students disappeared."

He was referring to Thomas Pearson's, my ex, disappearance. When he left the day before parent's weekend, everyone thought that he was just fooling around; when really, he had been killed by the psycho Ariana Osgood.

"The reason one of our students 'disappeared' last year, was because we had an unstable student attending Easton Academy," I responded.

Headmaster Hathaway knitted his eyebrows together and looked down at the file of papers that was on his desk.

"That is true," he said, lifting his chin so that our eyes were on the same level, "and it has come to my attention that Mr. Hollis is also, how you say 'unstable'."

My blood started boiling when he said that, and I could feel my skin getting hotter.

"Yes," I said, gritting my teeth so that my words came out carefully, "but, Jo… I mean Mr. Hollis, is very much stable when he is under the affects of his medication."

"Ms. Brennan," he said, "I do not want to cause any more tension than already present. I would just like to know if you can give me any information on the relationship that Mr. Hollis and Ms. Lange share."

"No, I can't"

He picked up a pair of reading glasses that were right beside his files on the desk, and bit the very tip of it. After going through some of the papers on his desk, he reached out and started scribbling something on a piece of sticky note. He then folded it up and held for me to take it.

"Well, I believe that we are done for the day. Please give this to Mrs. Gilmore"

I took the note from him and headed out his office, I then knocked on the door that was to the right of his.

"Come in" a peppy voice said.

I opened the door, only to be greeted by the rich, sweet, creamy aroma of a French Vanilla scented Yankee Candle.

"Oh," said the petite woman sitting in front of the office desk, "hello Ms. Brennan. How has your day been?"

"Fine." I said, and handed her the note that the headmaster gave me.

Her small lengthy fingers reached out and took the note.

"Thank you." She said.

I gave her a smile in return, and then walked out of the room and headed towards the quad.

The sky was orange with red horizontal stripes running across it, and the sun was peaking out behind one of the far off buildings.

"Reed!" voice shouted in the distance. I turned around to see a concerned Josh running my way. His curly blonde hair was bouncing up and down with each step he took, and his usually playful eyes had a unusual look in them.

"Are you okay?" he asked when he reached me, and without my response his arms were instantly holding me.

See? How could someone this sweet and this loving be capable of kidnapping?

"I just really need to go lay down." I said, not wanting to talk to Josh. If I stayed around him any longer, it might slip that the headmaster thinks that he took Noelle, and that would be a problem all on its own.

"I'll walk you back to Pemberly." he said, taking my hand and intertwining it with his. On my way back, the only thing I could think about was Noelle. Who would want to take her from us… from me? Yeah, she's not the nicest one in the bunch, but hurting her, really?

Josh took me all the way upstairs, and then stopped when we reached my door.

"You sure you don't need me?" he asked.

"I'm sure." I smiled.

He leaned over and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek.

"I love you." he whispered as he started to leave.

"I love you, too." I said. And when Josh was out of sight, I entered my room and flopped myself onto the bed.

Just as my eyes were about to close, I received a text message.

**You really don't listen, do you Reed. We told you not to go to the headmaster, and yet you seemed to spend the entire day in his office. But, lucky for you, we heard that you didn't want to go, but you were requested. However, no one knows what you two have talked about. And for that, your tasks have just gotten much harder. As of right now, no one is to know what you are doing. Just to show you that we're not that bad, you can get help, but from one person only. You choose, but she can't be a former Billings. First instruction? You and your 'friend' must be at Gwendolyn Hall exactly 20minutes after curfew. If one of you fails to show, the game is over… and so is Noelle's life. Don't forget your sweaters, I hear tonight is a cold one.**

I suddenly wished that Josh would have stayed with me. I looked at the watch on my phone. I had two hours to find someone to go with me, and head towards Gwendolyn Hall.

"You better be happy, Noelle."

The entire quad looked as if a huge white blanket from the sky had just fallen perfectly on top of it, giving it the soft and comfortable look.

"Holy crap, its cold." Ivy said, shaking under her black double-breasted winter coat. Ivy was really the only person who I could think of to help me with something this big, even with her previous detest of Noelle, "must we be _outside_?"

"Yes." I said, it was exactly twenty minutes after curfew, and still no sign of this mysterious person. My phone beeped.

**Glad to see you know how to follow directions. Now, inside the Ficus bushes next to you. There you will find a key, and you'll know what to do. Good Luck, you'll need it.**

"What does it say?" Ivy asked, her teeth grinding louder by the minute.

I placed my phone in my jeans pocket and looked for the bush the person said. Right inside the bush, there was a golden key, with a sapphire-blue '_B_' pendant hanging from it. The '_B_' was the same one that Cheyenne made all the girls of Billings wear, back when she was still president.

"Look" Ivy said, reaching down and picking up the note that had fallen on the floor.

_This key opens up the deepest secrets that Billings has kept hidden. Find what this key opens, and inside, you will find something that you will need when we meet. You have until same time tomorrow to figure this out._

"I'm not in the mood for a scavenger hunt" Ivy blurted. I looked up at her, wondering if she was the wrong choice to help me. But I couldn't do anything about it now, I had already chosen her, and I doubt I was allowed an exchange.

"I don't want to do this anymore than you don't, but we have to held Noelle." I said, grasping the key and holding it tight.

"Well," Ivy said, "obviously the 'thing' they are talking about has to do with Billings. I mean, they have the Billings '_B_', and they said it would open Billings' deepest secrets."

"I can't think half asleep" I joked.

"We can figure this out later" Ivy said, "When we're fully awake and filled with breakfast."

I smiled at her as we headed back to the Pemberly. I might have been seeing something, but I swore I saw a figure hiding in the bushes as we were walking back. Or, it could have been my mind playing tricks on me.

Josh sat down next to me the next morning at breakfast, and he had a playful grin plastered on his face.

"Morning beautiful." he said, giving me a kiss on the temple before he dove into the mount of doughnuts on his plate.

"Hey." I smiled; glad to see that at least one of us was eating. I, on the other hand, was waiting for Ivy to grace us with her presences.

When Ivy finally sat down, it was nearly time for us to gather in the Chapel.

'We need to talk' she mouthed to me, making sure that Josh or anyone else at the table had no idea what we were talking about.

"Doesn't it seem much more peaceful without Noelle around?" Amberely asked, with a pleased smile on her face.

"Yeah, you must have a lot more room to breathe. Now that your nose isn't stuck up her butt anymore." Lorna smirked.

A soft laughed escaped Josh's lips, and I couldn't help but smile in the recognition of how strong Lorna is without Missy at her side.

After breakfast, Ivy pulled me away from Josh's grasp and pushed me in the other direction. Josh had a confused look playing across his face, but I winked at him for reassurance.

"Where are we going?" I asked Ivy when she had finally loosened her grip on me.

"We need help." Was her answer.

"I know, but where…"

"Will you stop talking already?" she asked. Ivy pushed me all the way to the house I stayed in before the whole Billings thing, Bradwell Hall.

"Why are we here?" I asked.

"Because," she started, walking while she talked to me "back when I was being initiated into Billings, they made me go into the buildings and do things"

"Okay…" I said.

"And one of them had to do with Bradwell Hall," she said.

We stopped at a door and I looked at it.

"You brought me to the building's basement?" I asked, dumfounded.

"Open it."

"I can't, it's looked"

She nodded at me, and I instantly got what she meant.

I pulled the key out of my pocket and the door unlocked.

"Wow" I said.

In the deepest parts of Bradwell Hall, was where many of the Billings things where hid. It seemed like everything important was placed under here.

"I don't get it"

"How dumb would you be, if you put Billings's deepest secrets in Billings?"

Inside were tons of books, and many white clothes and tiki torches. These were the things that the Billings members before us used when initiating new Billings members. This is the place where the memories of all the Billings's legacies were held.

My phone beeped again.

**Now, you see that there is more to Billings than you know. Never expected a worthless place such as this to hold Billings secrets did you? Task one, complete. You're that much closer to saving Noelle, but you better pick up the pace. We're getting anxoius, and you dont want that to happen. Meet us tonight for the next task, good luck. You'll need it. **


End file.
